Late Games Will Affect Players, Too

2 years ago

Look for San Antonio Spurs fans to be walking around like zombies for the next week or so, as a series of late starting games will zap out sleep cycles, 1200 WOAI's Michael Board reports.

Even the home games in the Portland series will start at 8:30 PM, possibly later due to spill over from early TV games.The away games on the west coast will start at 9:30PM.

Dr. Paul Ingmundson of the Alamo Sleep Disorder Center says the players will be affected too.Even though they're used to traveling and playing games at odd times, he says a series of later than usual starts will affect the players' rhythm.

"The Spurs are going to be failing, and the Trailblazers will be closer to their optimum performance," he said.The games in Portland will start at 7:30PM Portland time, or about the time games start there anyway, and the San Antonio games will start at 6:30 Pacific Time.

He says Portland may be at another disadvantage when playing in San Antonio.

"They have done research on this looking at the effect of travel and travel west to east hurts more than travel east to west," he said.

Tip off for tonight's game is close to bed time--8:30PM.The pre game on Spurs Radio 1200 WOAI is at 8.